Signaling a shift to a new phase of the administration’s response to the nation’s economic woes, President Barack Obama will sign an executive order Friday establishing a new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness that will be led by General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt. The signing coincides with a visit to a GE branch in Schenectady, N.Y., the birthplace of the company.The new panel will replace the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and will have a new mission: to find “new ways to promote growth by investing in American business to encourage hiring, to educate and train our workers to compete globally, and to attract the best jobs and businesses to the United States,” according to the White House.Obama also announced that Paul Volcker, head of the advisory board, would step down as its mission ends. (see: )“Over the past two years, my Economic Recovery Advisory Board has provided this administration with support and expertise as we worked to bring our economy back from the brink and start recovering from an economic crisis that cost millions of American jobs,” Obama said in a statement.“As we enter a new phase in our recovery, I have asked the new council to focus its work on finding new ways to encourage the private sector to hire and invest in American competitiveness. (see: )Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman under President Jimmy Carter, was tapped in February 2009 to serve a two-year term on the board tasked with providing Obama with outside guidance on job growth and spurring economic recovery.Volcker is a well-respected economist who has been credited with helping to end high inflation in the 1970s and 1980s. He began advising Obama during his presidential campaign in 2008. Obama praised his “skill” and his friendship in a statement announcing his departure. (see: ) “Paul Volcker is not only one of the wisest economic minds in our country, he’s an individual who has for decades fought for policies that help American families and strengthen our economy,” Obama said. “Since my campaign for President, I have relied on Paul Volcker’s counsel as we worked to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”Immelt, GE’s chief executive since September 2001, was one of more than a dozen CEO’s closely allied with the Obama administration, advising from the outside on the economy and export growth. (see: )“Jeff Immelt’s experience at GE and his understanding of the vital role the private sector plays in creating jobs and making America competitive makes him up to the challenge of leading this new council,” Obama said. (see: )Immelt, a self-described Republican, had allied himself with Obama early in the 2008 campaign, citing his support for Obama’s clean energy ideas. While at the helm of GE, he gained a reputation for steering the company toward greater innovation and expansion in to clean energy manufacturing.Obama established the advisory board early in his presidency as a way of going “beyond the Washington echo chamber” to cull strategies for economic growth. The panel includes a group of CEOs of major manufacturing companies, financial services firms, and labor unions.But over the last two years, Obama’s relationship with the business community has faltered, despite the panel’s existence. Notably, it is Obama’s relationship with chief executives outside of this group that has defined the administration’s business bona fides in the last two years. The on-again, off-again friendship between Obama and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, as well as Goldman Sachs CEOs Lloyd Blankfien has more closely mapped the reception that the administration’s policies have earned among the business community. (see: )In recent weeks, the administration has sought to recalibrate its message to business leaders, and has launched a concerted effort to synchronize its efforts to on the global and domestic stage. (see: )Beginning with Obama’s lame-duck advocacy of a tax compromise bill, and continuing this week with the securing of several crucial business deals and agreements with China, the administration has carefully orchestrated a restructuring of their messaging to the business community and their response to the economic recovery. (see: )Earlier in the week, Obama announced that his administration would launch a new effort to identify and eliminate unnecessary and burdensome regulations from the federal books, which received widespread praise from groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (see: )On Wednesday, Blankfein and Immelt were among a fairly intimate group of CEOs representing American companies at a summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao. And they, along with J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, were among an even smaller group of guests who received invitations to the lavish state dinner later that day. (see: )Read More Stories from POLITICOSilver Water.Endonesia.Blublula.RJ .Homelands Essential mix (25 may 2003)
W.H. reboots on economic advice
Signaling a shift to a new phase of the administration’s response to the nation’s economic woes, President Barack Obama will sign an executive order Friday establishing a new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness that will be led by General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt. The signing coincides with a visit to a GE branch in Schenectady, N.Y., the birthplace of the company.The new panel will replace the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and will have a new mission: to find “new ways to promote growth by investing in American business to encourage hiring, to educate and train our workers to compete globally, and to attract the best jobs and businesses to the United States,” according to the White House.Obama also announced that Paul Volcker, head of the advisory board, would step down as its mission ends. (see: )“Over the past two years, my Economic Recovery Advisory Board has provided this administration with support and expertise as we worked to bring our economy back from the brink and start recovering from an economic crisis that cost millions of American jobs,” Obama said in a statement.“As we enter a new phase in our recovery, I have asked the new council to focus its work on finding new ways to encourage the private sector to hire and invest in American competitiveness. (see: )Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman under President Jimmy Carter, was tapped in February 2009 to serve a two-year term on the board tasked with providing Obama with outside guidance on job growth and spurring economic recovery.Volcker is a well-respected economist who has been credited with helping to end high inflation in the 1970s and 1980s. He began advising Obama during his presidential campaign in 2008. Obama praised his “skill” and his friendship in a statement announcing his departure. (see: ) “Paul Volcker is not only one of the wisest economic minds in our country, he’s an individual who has for decades fought for policies that help American families and strengthen our economy,” Obama said. “Since my campaign for President, I have relied on Paul Volcker’s counsel as we worked to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”Immelt, GE’s chief executive since September 2001, was one of more than a dozen CEO’s closely allied with the Obama administration, advising from the outside on the economy and export growth. (see: )“Jeff Immelt’s experience at GE and his understanding of the vital role the private sector plays in creating jobs and making America competitive makes him up to the challenge of leading this new council,” Obama said. (see: )Immelt, a self-described Republican, had allied himself with Obama early in the 2008 campaign, citing his support for Obama’s clean energy ideas. While at the helm of GE, he gained a reputation for steering the company toward greater innovation and expansion in to clean energy manufacturing.Obama established the advisory board early in his presidency as a way of going “beyond the Washington echo chamber” to cull strategies for economic growth. The panel includes a group of CEOs of major manufacturing companies, financial services firms, and labor unions.But over the last two years, Obama’s relationship with the business community has faltered, despite the panel’s existence. Notably, it is Obama’s relationship with chief executives outside of this group that has defined the administration’s business bona fides in the last two years. The on-again, off-again friendship between Obama and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, as well as Goldman Sachs CEOs Lloyd Blankfien has more closely mapped the reception that the administration’s policies have earned among the business community. (see: )In recent weeks, the administration has sought to recalibrate its message to business leaders, and has launched a concerted effort to synchronize its efforts to on the global and domestic stage. (see: )Beginning with Obama’s lame-duck advocacy of a tax compromise bill, and continuing this week with the securing of several crucial business deals and agreements with China, the administration has carefully orchestrated a restructuring of their messaging to the business community and their response to the economic recovery. (see: )Earlier in the week, Obama announced that his administration would launch a new effort to identify and eliminate unnecessary and burdensome regulations from the federal books, which received widespread praise from groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (see: )On Wednesday, Blankfein and Immelt were among a fairly intimate group of CEOs representing American companies at a summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao. And they, along with J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, were among an even smaller group of guests who received invitations to the lavish state dinner later that day. (see: )Read More Stories from POLITICOSilver Water.Endonesia.Blublula.RJ .Homelands Essential mix (25 may 2003)